Dr Esther Dermott
Dr Esther Dermott
Reader in Sociology
2.01, 11 Priory Road,
11 Priory Road,
Clifton,
Bristol
BS8 1TU
(See a map)
esther.dermott@bristol.ac.uk
Telephone Number (0117) 928 7505
Personal profile
Before coming to the Department of Sociology at Bristol, I was a Research Fellow at the Gender Institute LSE, temporary lecturer at the University of Essex and Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge.
Research
My research is on intimacy and family life, work, and poverty and inequality.
Intimate Fatherhood was published in 2008 by Routledge and challenges the dominance of the breadwinning ideal, argues for the rise of ‘intimate fatherhood’; and sets out a new framework for thinking about men’s parenting. My edited book Displaying Families (with Julie Seymour) (Palgrave 2011) examining current themes in the theorisation of personal/ family life focusing on the significance of credibility and audience in family practices. My most recent writing has included commentaries on the relationship between parenting and poverty, and work-life balance; interrogating commonplace, political and policy views of parenting.
I am currently working on two funded research projects. I am a co-investigator on the £4.3 million ESRC funded ‘Poverty in the United Kingdom: The 2010 Survey’ http://www.poverty.ac.uk (on which I am contributing analysis in relation to gender and parenting) and have been awarded funding from the British Academy for a pilot project on Fragile Fathering: negotiating intimacy and risk in parenting practice (with J Gabb, OU).
Teaching
On the Sociology undergraduate programme I teach the core first year unit ‘Doing Social Research’ and a combination of optional second/third year units including ‘Intimacy and Personal Life’. I also currently convene the third year dissertation unit. In addition I have a Masters unit on ‘Understanding Intimacy’. I have a number of research students who are working on issues around parenting, family, intimacy, time, inequality and work and I welcome applications in these areas.
Current PhD students
Alex Bryson
Natasha Carver
Alexandra Dimmock
Esther Lumutenga
Shakira Lewis
Katharina Taumberger
Fields of interest
Families; parenting; fatherhood; work; employment; gender; inequality; poverty
Key publications
- Dermott, E 2008, ‘Intimate Fatherhood’. Routledge
- Dermott, E & Seymour, J 2011, ‘Displaying Families: a new concept for the sociology of family life’. Palgrave
- Dermott, E 2012, ‘‘Troops to Teachers’: solving the problem of working-class masculinity in the classroom?’. Critical Social Policy, vol 32., pp. 223 - 241
- Dermott, E 2008, ‘Les hommes et la relation à l’emploi: “L’argent n’est pas tout et ne règle pas tout”’. in: P Gaborit (eds) Genre, temps sociaux et parentés. L'Harmattan, pp. 145 - 189
- Dermott, E 2006, ‘What's parenthood got to do with it?: men's hours of paid work’. British Journal of Sociology, vol 57 (4)., pp. 619 - 634
Full publications list in the University of Bristol publications system